on monday january 21st. there will be pictures of it on sunday. cnn will have stuff all weekend saturday, sunday and monday. >> we'll be there as well. we will bring you for all of those poor folks who attempted to get these from ticket master, that has to be awful. at the end of the day, they can sit around and watch it on television. >> small consolation. >> listen, i'm going to say congratulations, because you won, i lost, bcs, not that put any money on it. >> repeat that one more time. >> you won, i lost. >> alabama crimson tide are the big winners. >> everybody knows, done with the story. >> that's all from "early start." i'm john berman. >> and i'm zoraida sambolin. >> "starting point" with soledad o'brien starts right now. on "starting point," the

crimson tide, yes, we'll talk about it steam rolled to victory. rolls past notre dame. and second straight bcs title. and an eyebrow race raising comment, yes, we're talking to you brent mussberger. chuck hagel named defense secretary nominee. his confirmation will be anything but easy. and we have a date. the u.s. could default on the debt ceiling earlier than expected. what it means for you. and an exclusive exchange when piers morgan sits down with a man who wants him deported. >> 1776 will commence again if you try to take our firearms. >> more from that, coming up. members of the championship crimson tide football team, mike xwnch olic, and mike greenberg.

mike buttry. talk about addiction with patrick kennedy and christopher kennedy lawford and the former university of texas track coach, bev kearney will join to us talk about her lawsuit against the school. tuesday, january 8th. "starting point" begins right now. welcome back, everybody. "starting point," a crimson tidal wave fair to call it. alabama crushed alabama, 42-14 was the score at the end of it all. won the bcs national championship. the game was pretty much over, kind of not long after it started. alabama scored the first three times, and led 28-0 by halftime. the tide has won two straight national titles, three of the last four titles. carlos diaz in miami for thus morning. good morning, carlos. >> that's right, soledad. coming into the national championship game, a battle

between two storied programs. notre dame taking on alabama. a battle in the trenches. a great defense versus great offense. and the offense won. alabama cut right through notre dame's defense to score 35 unanswered points this thing over at halftime. the jokes were flying. basically saying that notre d e dame's marching band crossed mid field more than notre dame's actual football team. alabama has won three of the last four national championships. in fact, they won two in a row. this is truly a dynasty. nick saban has put together. a.j. mccarron, the new colden boy. quarterback of america if you will. thrown for 500 yards in the last two national championship games without throwing one single interception. as flawless last night as he was last night against lsu. guess what? a new celebrity, a.j. mccarron's girlfriend. that's right, kathryn webb, the current ms. alabama usa, shown

over and over again last night on espn and went from 2,300 twitter followers to over 100,000 followers over the span of the game. she has more twitter followers than a.j. mccarron himself. he says i guess she's more famous than i am. i guess east okhe's okay with t. he has a couple national championships and a very attractive girlfriend, just ask brent mussberger. >> a little weird, he was raving on and on over this 23-year-old woman. she is hot, i will give her that. this young lady is the former ms. alabama. her name is kathryn webb, and as carlos was telling us, she gained 90,000 twitter followers last night. this is what brent mursberger had to say. >> i tell you, you quarterbacks

get all of the good-looking women what a beautiful woman. >> wow, a.j. doing some things right. >> if you why a youngster in alabama, get the football out in the backyard and start throwing it around with pops. >> brent, you're 73 years old. she's 23 years old. come on, man. but she's hot. i'll give it to her. >> there was a lot of action in the game. >> it was just filler, thank you, john, pointing that out. >> felt like the 1970s. >> like when they would do closeups of the cheerleaders half the game. >> it didn't bother me, but it felt like the '70s. >> we will talk, not to the cheerleaders, not to the girlfriend, we'll talk to some of the players of alabama. that ahead this morning. chuck hagel also saying it's time to set the record straight. president obama's controversial pick of the secretary of defense, firing back at those

firing back at the president's pick. senator hagel says what our troops deserve as the president introduced his pick to the nation yesterday. >> chuck hagel's leadership of our military would be historic. the first person of enlisted rank to serve as secretary of defense. one of the few secretaries who has been wounded in war. and the first vietnam veteran to lead the department. >> let's get to brow anna keeler this morning. senator haggel gave his first interview to a newspaper in nebraska and said he has been unable to respond. what is he saying in the first interview? >> he said exactly what you said. this was an exclusive with "the lincoln journal star" and says critics have distorted his record and now he has a chance to answer some criticisms and.

he says when he does he are show an accurate assessment of his record. unequivocal total support of his record. a lot have criticized his record. point to certain things like he called apac the main pro israel lobbying group the jewish lobby. he's gotten a lot of questions about that. also questions about what kin of sanctions against iran he has supported. he has been skeptical of unilateral sanctions and this is something the white house very much acknowledges, but they point to the fact that he supported sanzes against iran backed by a coalition. the u.s. and other countries. president obama sort of in a veiled way referred to this yesterday and his commence in the east room and he said that haggle realizes that america is strongest when it stands with its allies. i will tell you, soledad, the white house feels that although this will no doubt be a tough

confirmation process, that hagel will get some really tough questions from republicans and democrats who at this point, many of them holding back on endorsely hagel, the white house and president obama feel when hagel has a chance to answer those questions, he will give good answers, convincing answers, that will get him the support he needs in the process. to that end, it was at least twice yesterday that he was urging congress to move forward quickly with this nomination as well as others on his national security team, these are really imperative roles that need to be filled. >> he is in the unenviable position of being on both sides. thank you, appreciate it. >> we'll talk to senator hagel's former chief of staff, mike buttry. and a story that combines our love of football and politics, kind of sort of. secretary of state hillary clinton returned to work

yesterday. as she was ready to leave her home and head into the office, you remember she suffered from the flu that led tie fall which led to a concussion and led to a blood clot. and her colleagues gave her a football helmet and football jersey with the number 112. the number of countries that she visited as the head of the state department. she's expected, of course to step down from her role at the end of mott. >> notre dame could have used her on the line. as alabama running all over her. >> i was rooting for notre dame, so lay off the notre dame jokes this morning. other news this morning? >> i have other news. two americans among seven people killed in a helicoptp kopcouldn in center peru. three bodies recovered away from the site, and four still trapped in the wreck. alleged gunman in the aurora movie theater massacre is due back in court this morning. a preliminary hearing to

determine if james holmes will stand trial. one officer described holmes as "very, very relaxed" after the shootings. casey wian joins us from centennial, colorado. good morning. >> reporter: good morning, john. it was a dramatic day of testimony yesterday. prosecutors were warning victims' family members who were in the courtroom, there would be a lot of graphic testimony and they should be prepared for that. they certainly delivered. several police officers took the stand, testified about their first encounter with james holmes. one officer, the one you mentioned who said his demeanor was very relaxed. not normal. he said when he first encounters james holmes, he thought he was another police officer because of the way he was dressed. wearing a helmet, gas mask, body armor on, as he got closer, he realized, in fact, it was the suspect. other officers describing horrific bloody scene inside that theater as they tried to

rescue victims and get them out of the threater. one officer saying he walked in, had trouble keeping his footing on the floor because there was so much blood. after several trips to the hospital with victims in his patrol car, that he could actually hear blood sloshing around in the back seat of his car. in in addition to the graphic testimony that we heard, all eyes were on james holmes to get a look at what he looked like. is he now -- has a very long beard, does not have the dyed red hair any longer. he sat and listened to the testimony with an emotionless, expressionless look on his face. and at least one relative of one of the victims of james holmes' shooting spree allegedly says he believes that holmes is faking his demeanor. let's listen to what that man had to say. >> i never stopped watching him in the courtroom. as soon as he saw different

things happened and he smiled a couple times and very quickly, because he caught himself, he's really pretending to be crazy. that guy is evil, but there is no way that guy is crazy. >> reporter: also going to his argument about whether he formed the intent to commit the crimes, prosecutors played video of holmes walking into the theater, using his cell phone, and he purchase thad ticket 12 days before the shooting spree began. john. >> thank you very much, casey wian live in colorado with details from the shooting. today mark fwtwo years sinc tucson shooting massacre and a new gun control initiative, americans for responsible solutions.org will encourage elected officials to fight gun violence while protecting the rights of responsible gun owners. bells will ring across tucson at

the exact moment that jarred lautner opened fire outside a supermarket, killing six people and severely wounded giffords. new this morning, a second inquest into amy winehouse's death confirmed she died of accidental alcohol poisoning. she died in 2011 at the age of 27. going up? well, maybe not. an escalator at a new jersey commuter train station abruptly reversed direction, sending people into panic. commuters riding the escalator at the jersey city station, when suddenly they weren't at all. it sent a stampede of people down the moving staircase, people clear didn't know what to do, five people suffered cuts, scrapes and bruises in the confusion. >> that's weird. i wonder what happened. >> some kind of malfunction. >> people try to fight their way up, just go down and take a better escalator.

>> one person trips, you get a clog of people. ahead this morning on "starting point," many say notre dame didn't stand a chance against alabama. i was not one of those many. the host of "mike & mike" in the morning join us. they disagree with that. and a monster of the deep filmed alive and in its natural habitat. new images of a giant squid, the thing is massive. christine, what's in business news? >> nothing that cool. it's -- it's disgusting and ugly, the u.s. will hit debt crisis sooner than thought. [ male announcer ] where do you turn for legal matters? at legalzoom, we've created a better place to handle your legal needs. maybe you have questions about incorporating a business you'd like to start.

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block the acid with prilosec otc and don't get heartburn in the first place! [ male announcer ] one pill each morning. 24 hours. zero heartburn. at the end of the day, irish eyes were not smiling. bcs championship game, 42-14. from the very first drive, tide dominance left the irish to nurse their wounds. team captain manti teo said the team did the best it could. >> we were battling, and i think they just did what alabama does. like i said, we had opportunities to make plays, we just didn't capitalize on those. >> much of the credit goes to nick saban, celebrating his fourth bcs title. he gives credit to the players, the university, and the fans. very politic of him.

>> it's not about me, it's about seeing all of those people being happy and proud of what this team was able to accomplish. that makes me happy, and, you know, whether i look it or not, i'm happy as hell. >> let's talk about the game with mike and mike, mike golic and mike greenberg. nice to talk to you, guys. he's so funny, i'm happy as hell. as he sits there, not looking particularly happy at all. people have said dynasty. is that a fair word to use? >> i think it is, soledad. in the world in which we live today in college football, where it is as competitive as it has ever been no, team ever won back-to-back championships in this era. at this stage, 3 out of 4 does qualify as a dynasty. >> he doesn't want to talk about it, he'll leave it to others, i guess that's us. one of only four coaches who

have won four national championships. he deserves that title to be above him. he'll never admit it, but he deserves it. built a fantastic program. he has it humming right now. >> what happened to your team, notre dame? i was rooting for them. >> physically, they got beat. i appreciate that. but it was about lining up and establishing dominance on the line of scrimmage. i thought it would be certainly closer than it would be there, but they dominated, especially offense against notre dame's defense. great all year. never seen them physically dominated like that. took control of the game when that happened and opened up the passing game and they just rolled from there. this was a physical beatdown by alabama. what everybody was looking forward to. the best offensive line in the country and a great running game against arguably the best front seven defensively. this was the matchup everybody was looking for. and unfortunately for notre dame and my alma mater, no matchup.

physically beaten at the line of scrimmage by alabama. it opened up so many more things for a.j. mccarron to throw for four touchdowns. that's how they continued to roll and dominate. >> oh. i was rooting for notre dame. i really thought -- >> after ten minutes, you knew where it was going. >> that's will cain joining us. i had ignowill ignore you the r of the morning. at halftime you knew it was over. still kind of painful. >> we may not see a championship game like this again. maybe with the sort of playoff situation, we will get two better teams. >> texas longhorns since usc, probably the last really good game. it's been a while since we had a really good national championship. >> they learned a lot. i guess next year we'll see how

much they learned and if they apply it. next, did you see this guy who has been trying to get piers morgan deported. >> kind of scary. >> on with piers morgan. totally interesting. listen. >> 1776 will commence again if you try to take our firearms. >> will it really? 1776 will commence again? >> i don't think he means the musical. >> anyway -- >> what did you think of that? >> we'll play more of that and talk about what piers morgan said, back in a moment.

welcome back. i'm christine romans minding your business. stock futures flat. earnings season kicks off today when alcoa reports after the closing bell and unemployment in the euro area hit a record 11.8%. red alert. the united states could default on its debt in five weeks in congress doesn't raise the debt kree ceiling. half a month earlier than expected. america could be in default as early as february 15th and

almost certainly before march 1st. despite extraordinary measures taken by the treasury department to delay that from happening. on that day, the luu.s. will ha $9 billion coming in to the treasury's coffers. $52 billion going out. committed spending, including social security checks, paying f active duty military. that's what they are fighting in washington. how to cut that spending. >> that math does not add up. it cannot work. so it wasn't exactly point/counter point. because piers morgan didn't say much when he sat down with alex jones, the guy who created this petition to have piers deported because is he an outspoken advocate of guns and gun control. jones went completely into rant mode last night. here is what he said. >> i'm here to tell you, 1776 will commence again if you try to take our firearms, doesn't

imagine how many lemon us get on the street, begging to have their guns taken. we will not relinquish them. do you understand? >> okay. so that guy has biz his own count, 50-something guns. just put that in your back pocket for a moment. here is what piers said when he got a chance to respond. >> is he really one of the reasons why i'm so concerned about the lack of gun control in america. a man that owns 50 weapons. he has sort of a pathological view about it seems unhinged to me. the irony of guns rights guys saying i'm rude to them, won't be lost on me. i try to stay calm and there is no other way of dealing with him. he's a ranting guy who doesn't want anybody to grab his gun. >> the gun control debate, we go every single time should we talk

about ar-15 weapons being more easy to get than a package of sudafed. to taking everyone's gun as way. >> why is that? why don't we go to the middle. i will say the a american, sort of recognizes there is a big middle there. >> every time we invoke the middle, i gqueasy. we might want an intellectual debate. alex jones is a 9/11 truther, the guy that charlie sheen went out and said he drank tiger's blood and so forth. that's how he got famous. and a wonderful triumph on a television show last night to alex jones. i would suggest to piers, have a one-on-one debate. not about meeting in the middle, but a valid intellectual points laid out for audience to choose from. >> i'm going to say there is a middle, and the middle doesn't necessarily have to be a bad compromise. and we never talk about a

middle, this to this, and a discussion about the middle. >> and i think president obama is talking about taking some very sensible middle ground positions. president obama is not suggesting we appeal the second amendment. the stuff being proposed is very modern. >> we'll see what that discussion becomes. still ahead on "starting point," here is a guy who worked as former senator chuck hagel's chief of staff when he was making the comments about the jewish lobby. we'll speak with mike buttry. that ahead in a moment. surgery was successful, but he will be in a cast until it is fully healed, possibly several months. so, if the duck isn't able to work, how will he pay for his living expenses? aflac. like his rent and car payments? aflac. what about gas and groceries? aflac. cell phone? aflac, but i doubt he'll be using his phone for quite a while cause like i said, he has a fractured beak. [ male announcer ] send the aflac duck a get-well card

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good morning. welcome back, everybody. watching "starting point." we begin with john berman with a look at today's top stories. pakistani intelligence officials say several u.s. drones killed eight suspected militants, it happened this morning on the afghan border near mir ali. the fourth u.s. drone strike in the region since the new year. on sunday, nine pakistani taliban fighters were killed when american fighters fired from several drones and slammed into militant hideouts. an advocate for stricter gun laws, now michael bloomberg is helping vice president's task force to curb violence. >> joe biden not a shrinking

violet, particularly when it comes to crime and the gun problem in this country and the number of murders. >> bloomberg is pushing for criminal background checks on all gun sales, not just gun dealers and called for renewal of the assaults ban, similar to the one in 1994 that expired ten years later. attorneys for casey anthony will be in a courtroom. he is appealing four convictions after her daughter kaleigh first reported missing. she was acquitted in 20 11. casey anthony is not expected to attend today's hearing. the death of a chicago man who died before he could collect a winning lottery ticket has been ruled a homicide. the chief medical examiner said there was a lethal amount of cyanide in the man's system. he won $1 million in a lottery ticket. the check was issued on july 19th.

khan died the next night before he could cash the check. >> wow. robert griffin iii headed to florida to see a specialist after tests on his right new reveal potential ligament tears. mike shanahan facing all sorts of heat to allow him to continue to play. rg3 says many may question, criticize, and think they have all of the right answers, but sfru been few have been in the line of fire in battle. you either step aside and give in or continue the fight. they can't tell how badly the ligaments are damaged. he this injury in college. they may have to go in and see how bad it is. >> if they tore an acl, they have to go in and see how bad it is. >> they don't know if it's a new tear or part of the old tear. >> if you don't play, they say

you are a us with, and if you do play, they say you're irresponsible. no way you can win. >> i love his tweet. it's his coach whose responsibility is to protect the player and make the tough decision, and the medical team. >> i'm on a tear this morning. >> how much of the national championship game did you watch last night? >> those giants are amazing. >> you watched the hornets. >> my husband is afraid when i start talking football. he says don't do that. let's talk politics, safer ground for all of us. even before chuck hagel nominated for secretary of defense, he was facing attacks from both sides, even before official. remarks on hagel made in the past on gay rights to u.s./israeli relations, he forcefully defended his record

in an interview with "the lincoln journal star" there is not one shred of evidence that i'm anti-israeli. not one senate vote that matters that hurt israel. i didn't sign on to certain resolutions and letters because they were counterproductive and didn't solve a problem. right to mike buttry. hagel's chief of staff. worked with him from 2000 to 2008. >> thank you for having me, soledad. >> who is the real chuck hagel? a guy who at one point 14 years ago said a diplomat was aggressively gay and that made him unfit to be ambassador to luxembourg. the guy who talked about the jewish lobby and he really meant the israel loebby, or a guy who says i'm sorry. i am a decorated vietnam veteran and i would be tremendous secretary of defense. who is he? >> let me speak to the chuck

hagel i knew. this guy served on the ground in vietnam. earned two purple hearts while he was there. that's the prism to which he sees making policy for the united states government. the point of view someone on the ground, in the mud, during the fighting and the dying and so many of those people have carried the burden for the last ten plus years in the united states of america as we've been in this endless cycle of war. those are the people who chuck hagel will orient himself to wars and standing up for. with regard specifically to the point on israel, you know, i have been astounded at the way senator hagel's record has been distorted on israel. this is someone who understand not just in his pead, but his heart, the importance of our relationship with israel. he wrote a book in 2008 on american policy and wrote in the book of the importance with our

relationship with israel. specifically our military relationship with israel. >> let's talk about all of the other things that people will bring up when they have the hearing. the comment about someone being aggressively gay. he says as much as there was an apology, it wasn't to him. it was to politico. a press apology cynics might say. those are those nonapology apologies. what does he say now? >> senator hagel would take that back if he could. it was an incensensitive thing say. it isn't his view. one, senator hagel was opposed to a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage when he was in the senate at a time it was very difficult for republicans to be opposed to that ban. he stood up, he was opposed to it. i worked with the man. in our office, it didn't matter what your sexual orientation

was, what your race was, how old you were. what marrittered was the work y did. >> unless you are aggressively gay and you want to be ambassador to luxembourg and then maybe not so much. >> if you could have that one back, i think he would. but in our office, it did not matter if you were gayer not. what mattered was the work you did. and that's how he will operate in the pentagon. >> i can just ask you. good luck to you. this will be a big fight in washington i think. on that point, you say his record on israel has been distorted. but the record on the rights issues is pretty clear. he received a 0% rating from the human rights campaign, which rates members of congress on these issues. but i think going forward, he has an opportunity to show he can be a real leader on this. can you say today he's fully committed to protecting the rights of gays and lesbians to serve in the military? what actions will he take? >> he will support the

president's policy of letting people open the service, and i have no doubt about that. i would commend to you and your readers, a piece for "atlantic monthly," go on the atlantic site, steve wrote a great piece from a credible perspective about senator hagel's relationship with the lgbt community. we will have a chance in senate hearings for on senator hagel to address this head on. i suspect maybe he is second only to rg3 this morning in terms of washington's bandwidth. i expect they will be well attended and highly viewed. >> not bad company to be in. a quick question on iran. that's a whole other category and lots of questions. if you look, a long record of opposing sanctions on iran. look at what the president has done, he has aggressively and

increasingly ramped up sanctions on iran. seems completely contradict trooe ry on that front. >> he has a report of opposing unilateral sanctions on iran. he was supportive of multilateral sanctions on iran. they are, woulding to some affect. he is opposed to unilateral sanctions, because is he very clear on the threat that iran poses, and the danger iran poses, but he doesn't think unilateral sanctions are effective. he thinks they isolate the united states and strengthen the rulers in iran. multilateral sanctions can be highly effective. that was his position in the senate. more to the point, the secretary of defense's job is to protect our military, build a 21st century fighting force and fight and win wars in the terrible event that's what's required. and chuck hagel is enormously

qualified to do those three things. >> mike buttry, thank you for your time. appreciate it. >> thank you for having me. that. >> that is the question. not only anti gay, but anti sem might. i am a position have you a very high bar to prove claims like that but legitimate questions about how he views iran, hamas, and sanctions. those are very important questions. >> if you look at it, right, on all of those issues and both sides of the aisle, people will come at him. fascinating to watch. >> by the way, i don't think -- nor have i said he's anti gay. some unfortunate things and taken positions that have been not supportive of gay rights, but he'll have a real opportunity to prove himself in these hearings. i hope he does. potentially he could be i real leader on this. >> vieam vet. >> interesting pick by the president.

>> not afraid of a fight. >> the president picks somebody who is outside the box thinker. >> the interesting fight on susan rice. also interesting. ahead, on "starting point," the giant quid. twice the size of a car, for the first time in history, the pictures of the sea creature in its natural habitat. that's ahead. woman: we're helping joplin, missouri, come back from a devastating tornado. man: and now we're helping the east coast recover from hurricane sandy. we're a leading global insurance company, based right here in america. we're now leaner, and focused on what we do best. we've repaid every dollar america lent us. everything, plus a profit of more than $22 billion. for the american people. aig, we turned it around. thank you, america. thank you, america. thank you, america, for the freedom to insure a brighter future. when we make guarantees for people's lifetimes, we have to act as a company that will make sure we are here

for their lifetimes. we made a commitment to repay and we did, and gave america a profit. pretty proud of that. helping people recover and rebuild -- that's what we do. now let's bring on tomorrow.

welcome back, everybody. watching "starting point." the discovery channel is about to air never seen before video of a monster squid in its natural habitat. japanese scientists caught it on video for the first time. we have still pictures right now. obviously discovery channel wants you to watch it on the discovery channel. the american museum of history says the creature used to be stuff of legend. >> this is the first time anyone has ever seen these things alive. people have been searching for them for hundreds of years, literally. not with the technology of today, but they wash ashore, and people know that they exist. but no one has ever seen a live one. always dead when they wash ashore. >> nine miles east of the c hhii

island. about the size of a standard school bus. this is a small one. the biggest they found, which was dead, 18 meters. >> how big is that? >> multiply by three people. 54 feet long. >> this is a rough crowd this morning. >> you have to be on your game. >> we're proud americans, will cain and i. coming up next, a really interesting book that's been written. we'll explain the struggles of addiction. the author is christopher kennedy laughford, who says he is clinically predisposed for

addiction. we'll talk about that in a moment.

welcome back, everybody. drug and alcohol abuse is a growing problem across our nation. the number of problems diagnosed by doctors was up 70%, according

to a study released last fall. our next two guests know a lot about the power of addiction and the struggle to recover. a new book, called recover to live, kick any habit, manage any addiction." is he here with former congressman patrick kenntuckken. are this is really a textbook. >> this has the best information on the planet. i interviewed some of the smartest people, neuroscientists, behaviorists, psychologists, treaters. who really know their stuff. everybody in this the book is evidence-based. i want to give people information that's credible beyond reproach and nobody is selling anything in this book. >> you were an addict, cocaine, alcohol, heroin. >> in recovery for 26 years. >> yeah, have you been in recovery for two years, patrick. alcohol and prescription drugs. >> oxycontin, anything i could

get myon. >> this book, is it a personal journey for to you kind of figure out how it was done and how the recovery, how the addiction happened and how the recovery could work? >> well no, for me it was really about the science. we're learning so much about the brain that we understand this is a brain illness, the american society of addiction medicines says that this is, there's no difference between the way a process addiction occurs like gambling or the way substance addiction comes. we're understanding these illnesses are in the brain. people need to know that. i'm about reducing stigma and shame and giving people the opportunity and the empowerment to do something about this illness if they want to. >> is it genetics? are certain people pre-disposed to being an addict. >> just like being pre-disposed to cancer or diabetes you also are for depression, anxiety and addiction and many of the genetics overlap so you might have a higher propensity for addiction but also anxiety, depression. they're common mechanisms in the brain. what i love about what chris

did, he brought all of at dictions together. it's not just addiction to alcohol over here. if you're addicted to alcohol, better off than not you'll have problems in other areas of your life. so i think what he did is very important because there's a vacuum in terms of understanding addiction and mental health in our society, and we need to fill the vacuum with good knowledge and what the evidence base tells us. >> it's kind of self-help and i always thought the theory was you go and the only way to recover is to check yourself in to a betty ford or a promises or something. >> that's been the model the 28-day model, now it's 90 days and going to treatment centers is really expensive so if you want to look at this illness, it affects millions of americans, 22 million people have a chemical dependency, 60 million have a non-dependent use disorder. lots of people are suffering and not all can afford good out or

inpatient treatments. i began my abuse at 12. if you have the genetic frontloading for this and you have trauma in your life, at sass nations of two of my uncles and divorce, i had, the chance is 50% greater you'll develop this in later in life. there is very little cupability for folks who develop the illnesses. >> if you can't afford to get expensive professional help what are the things people can do? >> the first thing is to assess where you're on in the continuum. it's all about harm in your life. we're not prohibitionists. we're saying if these things aren't working for you anymore, and they often aren't and you want to change your life, what can you begin to do? first assess where you're at and i have seven tools here that, first you have to stop using, 12-step programs are enormously beneficial, cognitive behavioral therapy is enormously beneficial. meditation, exercise, nutrition, all of these things, all of

these things have some evidence base that they can affect your ability to recover. >> chris, how do you rationalize, one of your big message we can help take control of it yourselves, self-help, but that seems to run counter to everything we've been taught you're a victim or it's genetics or denial. how do you get over denial? >> that's a difficult thing and it's up to the families and loved ones of people. there's a lot about codependency. people in self-help sections of book stores are usually family and friends of people who are suffering, they're the ones who bring it to them. the truth is many people do need help with this and they can get that for fun and free at 12-step programs or from friends. the critical thing is to believe that you can change your life. that's the process. we understand that a lot of this stuff is about retraining the brain, the neuroplasticity of the brain has enormous capabilities for relearning things and changing these kinds of behaviors. >> let me ask both of you a question, patrick i'll start

with you. do addicts have to bottom out, is that what happened with you? was there a point? >> a moment of clarity you no longer want to live the life that you've been living. >> what was yours? >> my father dying, my feeling desperate because i had been a chronic slipper. i could stop but i couldn't stop for long periods of time. since i left congress, i've had the longest period of continual sobriety and those of us who know who are in recovery it's about continual sobriety, so -- >> did having a baby? >> the baby is a guarantee i'm going to be taking this more seriously even if i don't take myself as seriously and don't want to save my life i want to be here for my kid. something bigger than me, the moment of clarity, the psyching change >> it took me ten years of trying, i had all of the resources and all of the desire to arrest this illness and still took me to ten years, went to

college and law school, got a masters in clinical psychology while fully enmeshed in my addiction and trying to get over it and couldn't do it. the point is people have to hit bottom but we can raise the bottom. that's the critical. >> and shouldn't give up. >> right. the sooner you intervene in the process the better chance you have of changing someone's trajectory. >> is being famous make it so much more difficult? most people we think about with addiction are the hollywood stars and starlets who go off -- >> nine out of taken dikof ten started when they were teenagers, it's when the prefrontal cortex hasn't developed. the big area for the next 50 years in terms of mental health is prohibiting and preventing addiction from happening in the first place by eliminating this notion that it's okay to experiment when you're a teenager and we've thrown up our hands as a society think oh well that's what kids do. listen, if we can get people to put it off longer and longer, our chances of reducing

long-term addiction and disability is enhanced. >> the book is called "recover to live, kick any habit, manage any addiction." christopher kenny lawford is the author and cousin patrick. >> he did the forward which i was grateful to have him do. >> great to have you with us this morning. >> thank you. still ahead on "starting point" we'll talk about football, the irish could have used some luck last night, we'll break down the bcs blowout at and talk to barrett jones and beverly kearney, she says she was pushed to resign after admitting she had a relationship with a student athlete, but she says there's something strange about the timing of being dismissed. we'll talk about that ahead. [ loud party sounds ]

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welcome back. you're watching "starting point." it wasn't erin about raugh, it was erin go home. we'll talk to the players about the big win last night. a chopper is down, two americans are dead, crews are still trying to pull the bodies out this morning, happened in peru. we'll update you on the accident straight ahead. getting out before the cliff, luxury home sales shoot up right before the cliff's deadline. we'll show you how many homeowners and why they're

richer for it. >> it is gadget lover's heaven, highlights from the consumer electronics show in las vegas coming up including a self-driving car. >> i need one of those. we have a packed show, alabama players, eddie lacy and barrett jones will join us, maryland senator's ben cardin and bev kearney will join us and talk about her lawsuit. and "starting point" begins right now. good morning, welcome, everybody. our team this morning, will cain, what's with the beard? >> you love the beard. >> no, actually have i not been clear on that. >> she told me yesterday to shave the beard. i said you set the cause now a week. >> hate is such a strong word but hate. old man. no beard. richard socarides, newyorker.com is with us this morning.

>> completely clean shaven. your favorite panelists are here this morning. >> always my favorite panelists, always. "early start" co-anchor john berman and business correspondent christine romans with us as well. our "starting point" is the crimson tide really left no doubt whatsoever who the kings of college football, rolling over notre dame, 42-14 was the final score. the game wasn't even close, like ten minutes in you knew what was going to happen. alabama scored the first three times in the bowl, 28-10 halftime. alabama has won two bcs titles in a row, three out of four. players, fans, sportscasters talking about "dynasty" but the coach nick sabin is a mellow guy, not that cheery about his big win. here's what he said. >> i don't think words like "dynasty" are really words i'm much interested in.

you know, we're interested in accomplishment, and consistency and performance, and we want to continue to try to do that in the future, so those are for other people to talk about. >> yes, so he's like yeah, you see another part of the interview, i'm really happy. >> he's famous says a 24-hour rule on celebration, they're insigned the window for another 18 hours. 12 hours. we'll see how it ends tonight. >> let's talk to some of the players, eddie lacy is a running back and senior center is barrett jones, all-american. nice to have you both with us this morning. congratulations are in order. will was mentioning the 24-hour rule. >> eddie you got to look happy. you're still within your 24-hour window to celebrate here. >> for national championships we like to extend the window just a little bit. i don't know if you all ever met coach sabin i would not describe

him as mellow. >> he looked so glum, he was talking about how happy he was but he literally would not smile and you would have thought you'd lost, and you had won. is it more than 24 hours, 36 hours, go into a whole 48-hour window for fun and celebration? >> well i think we usually have a meeting on thursdays after these games so that gives us about four or five days to celebrate and have fun and you know, i think after that, it's back to business. that's how you create something like we have going right now where you go from year to year, certainly you enjoy your success and look past it and get ready for the next year. that's how we've learned how to handle success. >> that's why they're the champs. the beginning of the game, we were talking about how ten minutes in, it felt very, very bad for notre dame. did you know that? did you feel like we've got it early on in the game? >> can you repeat that?

>> sorry, i don't know if you're having a problem hearing me. i was wondering if by halftime it's 28-0. do you feel like that's it, you are agetting into the locker room for the break at halftime, we've won this, we're going to win? >> i mean at halftime coach comes in, he teaches us don't worry about the scoreboard. it's a 60-minute game and by halftime we have 30 minutes left to play in and in this league teams come back all the time so you know he drives a 60-minute game, drives it in our head so we came out after halftime we knew we had to finish. >> let me ask you this, alabama has shown a great deal of dominance, three titles in the last four years but the sec seven straight titles. you play a tough schedule. you know, can the sec ever lose? do you ever see the sec falling off the turf years? is it different playing in a league schedule than notre dame? >> we're very proud to play and what we feel is the best

conference in america and certainly the sec is a huge task week in and week out. it's just so difficult because you have to bring your best every week and you have to be able to get up for every game because if you don't you'll be playing against an opponent who will beat you. we love our league and certainly the streak will end eventually but the sec is the best league in america. >> i'm going to brag on the two of you because you're laid back for people who have won a big giant game. barrett jones a 4.0 gpa, campbell award, academic heisman basically. you played injured. you had a foot injury, now you have to go into surgery, right? how is that looking for you? how are you feeling about that? >> well, never too excited about surgery but you know it's just part of the game and i had an option to have it before but certainly i was not going to miss this game and you know, there's no way you could have maybe missed this being my last

game as a senior, so you know it was a great experience and really a great way to go out. it's not often you win your last game as a championship game so that's just a pretty cool way to go out on top and finish out my career. >> bleacher report headline, eddie, i don't know if you saw it, i bet you did, eddie lacy, first round nfl draft pick or 2013 heisman trophy winner, question mark. how do you feel about that? >> there's the big smile. >> they both sound great, man, but i haven't made my decision yet. i don't know what i'm going to do. i still have my parents to talk to and we still have to meet with coach sabin. no matter which one i pick it's a good situation. >> barrett, you're buddies with a.j. mccarron, you got some good material from last might so brent mus berger took a liking

to a.j.'s girlfriend. are you picking it up on twitter? >> me and eddie honestly are a little jealous. we worked for a long time for our followers and lebron follows her and she goes from 1,000 to 100,000. where is the love for actual players. she is certainly very pretty but you know, i just think brett needs to share the love a little bit. >> barrett almost sounds a little bit -- it's great to talk to you, congratulations. they're all very calm, they have a few more hours on the clock before they get back to work on thursday as coach sabin said. nice to see you, thanks for talking to you and the whole team as well. >> they smiled more than 100 times they did than nick sabin. nice to see some alabama people's teeth. >> john berman other stories making it news.

authorities in peru are investigating a helicopter crash that killed seven people including at least two americans. the chopper went down after taking off from an airport in central peru. three of the victims were recovered a distance from the crash site. day two to determine whether james holmes will stand trial for the aurora movie theater massacre. in chill testimony one officer said after the shootings last july holmes appeared to be relaxed and detached. two officers took the stand cried as they described the horrific scene at the theater. 12 people were murdered, dozens and dozens were injured. former soccer olympic championships joined a soccer camp in connecticut. their goal was to bring smiles to the kids in the community that really has been devastated by last month's deadly school shootings and for one night it

looked like they succeeded, awfully nice from all of the soccer stars. thousands signed up to buy tickets for this year's inaugural ball can forget it. foul up at ticketmaster left them shut out. sunday morning ticketmaster sent an e-mail informing everyone they'd be receiving another e-mail monday with a special link to purchase tickets to an official inaugural ball with president obama and the first lady attending but four hours later the tickets accidentally went on sale and sold out in a hurry. everyone waiting for the monday morning league received an e-mail from ticketmaster they were sold out. >> they just weren't planning, they were waiting for monday, who knew it was going to be sunday night they had to get it together during the game they were watching. >> saved thousands of dollars on hotel rooms. >> oh, always the business angle. very nice. critics of the former

republican senator chuck hagel say he'll have to explain his comments about israel from the past, comments about a diplomat who was gay and wanted to be ambassador, one of them is maryland senator ben cardin who would like to hear some of the explanations. we'll talk to senator cardin this morning. she resigned after admitting to an affair with a former student athlete. is there more to the story? we'll talk to the former university of texas track coach bev kearney straight ahead as well. what are you doing?

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republicans have been lining up against the former republican senator chuck hagel weeks before president obama nominated him for the secretary of defense position. now that haguele is officially the pick some lawmakers in the president's own party don't seem that thrilled either including ben cardin who says senator hagel will have to clarify some of the things he's said in the past. senator cardin, nice to see you sir. >> it's good to be with you, thank you. >> you clearly have reservations about chuck hagel. what would you say is your biggest issue with him? >> i wanted to get an explanation about his position in regards to iran.

he's been reluctant to support tough sanctions against iran. iran's an extremely dangerous country. senator hagel and i served together. he's a good position. i agree with his positions with regards to iraq. i believe the president should be able to have his team, but the advice and consent of the senate is a very important responsibility. we have to do it independently and there are questions that need to be answered. >> he says now that when he used the phrase "jewish lobby" he meant the israel lobby. what do you make of that, and what kind of questions, if there are any, would you like to ask him about that? >> well, senator hagel on a couple of occasions used language he should not have used. he'll apologized for his language about a gay person, his use of the pro-jewish lobby was inappropria inappropriate. these are concerns and matters i want to talk personally to senator hagel about.

>> if it weren't chuck hagel, who would you prefer to see in that position? >> that's the president -- >> you look at his background, decorated vietnam veteran, shrapnel in his chest, some people point to that alone as he has tremendous experience that many others who have served in that position do not have. >> well, this is president obama's choice. it's not who i would prefer to see as secretary of defense. senator hagel has a distinguished record, serving in vietnam, i served with him on the foreign relations committee, i very much admired his independence in regards to our involvement in iraq. i think he spoke from his own personal convictions and we agreed on that issue. so i think it's important for us to let the process go forward. it should be an open and fair nominating process, with the confirmation hearings, and we'll see, but i do have questions. these questions need to be addressed and we'll see where it goes. >> what's the number one question.

you've asked for a one on one meeting. what is the first thing you ask him? >> it's going to be about i understand his reluctance to use our military but will he stand strong against those who threaten us and support terrorism and his conversations with terrorist groups. i don't serve on the armed services committee that conducts the hearing so it's an opportunity when he comes to my office to get these questions answered. >> we were talking earlier this morning with his former chief of staff and asking him about his comment about a diplomat who was gay who he called aggressively gay, which what he believed would make him ineligible for ambassador in luxembourg in 1998. is that a question you want to ask him about? >> absolutely, i want to know what his position is with regards to gays in the military, whether he -- i understand the president's commander in chief but i want to snow what

senator's view with regards to making sure there's no discrimination in our military service. these are questions that need to be addressed. >> we've walked through 15 questions you have for him. do you think at the end of the day he'll be confirmed realistically? >> normally we allow the president to get his team in place but it is an independent process and it's too early to make a prediction as to how his confirmation process will go. >> senator ben cardin thank you for your time. appreciate it. >> thank you. got to take a break. still ahealed the u.s. will likely default on its debt sooner than we've been calculating. christine romans walks us through what that means for the economy. here's a hint -- bad, bad, bad things. that's ahead, back in a moment. r for only 1-cent after maxperks rewards. find thousands of big deals now... ...at officemax.

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welcome back to "starting

point." i'm christine romans "minding your business." earnings season kicks off when alcoa reports after the closing bell. new this morning, unemployment in the euro area hit a record high 11.8% in november. now the u.s. could default on its debt in five weeks, half a month earlier than expected according to a new report by the bipartisan policy center, it predicts it will hit the debt ceiling as early as february 15th and almost certainly before march 1st despite extraordinary measures taken by the treasury department to delay that from happening. on that day the u.s. will have $9 billion coming in to treas y treasuries coffers, and $52 billion. >> that's not going to work. >> hence the budget wars we are about to live through. federal regulators announced a settlement over alleged foreclosure abuses and bank of america agreed to a $10 billion

settlement with fannie mae. bank of america hit a two-year high on the day it had to cough up $10 billion. and rich homeowners rushed to sell their property before the fiscal cliff, sales of luxury homes spiked in the last months of 2012 according to the national association of realtors the goal to avoid the capital gains tax hike and the medicare surtax on investment income part of at fordable care act. the rush was worth it because a high earner would pay $88,000 less in taxes on every $1 million profit booked on a home in 2012 instead of 2013. >> wow, definitely worth it. >> i'm not in that category. >> we can all dream. thank you. let's talk "tough call" today one of the teenagers featured in the awful web video mocking a girl at the center of the rape case in ohio "regrets" his behavior and his comments, that's the quote from his lawyer, the teen in question is

18-year-old michael nodiano. his attorney says he did something dumb but didn't commit a crime. >> michael was very callously talking about the sexual assaults he had been told about by others. there's no excuse or justification for the comments and jokes michael made on the video, and with some sober reflection, he is ashamed and embarrassed to hear them himself. >> apologies are always so much more sincere when they come from the actual person as opposed to the actual person's attorney is my take on this. two 16-year-olds who were on the football team, the high school football team are charged with sexually assaulting a young woman after a series of parties that happened last august and those two are expected to face trial in juvenile court next month. >> a lot going on including an ongoing investigation where there is the possibility that more than those two kids will be charged. it is not surprising that a lot of the other kids particularly

ones who may appear on a video have lawyered up and taking some measures to deal with whatever predicament they might be in. >> when you see that kid in that video it's awful what he's saying. he's saying he was not involved in the attack and certainly his lawyer is saying that but it goes on and on in great depth. his attorney in other comments how he regrets it and the effect it's had on people in the community and his own family and he comes from a good family, wasn't raised and goes on and on and on, kind of like well the video speaks for itself. >> if you were that kid's mom or dad and you were watching your child say those things, i mean, what would you -- it's horrific, all of that 18 years of child rearing to result in that kind of behavior tearing up a town, destroying people's lives, it's just heartbreaking. >> it is, awful. moving on a head this morning on "starting point" we're going to talk to a legendary track coach who resigned after she admitted an affair with the student athlete. the story has come out ten years

after their relationship ended. does the timing matter? we'll talk to bev kearney, she'll join us to tell her side of the story. that's ahead. we're back in a moment. so, we all set? i've got two tickets to paradise! pack your bags, we'll leave tonight. uhh, it's next month, actually... eddie continues singing: to tickets to... paradiiiiiise! no four. remember? whoooa whooaa whooo! you know ronny, folks who save hundreds of dollars by switching to geico sure are happy. and how happy are they jimmy?

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welcome back, everybody. 28 minutes past the hour, just a few moments we'll be talking with coach bev kearney, former university of texas track and field coach, very, very successful, resigned over an affair she had with a student. here's the catch the affair was ten years ago. we take to you the consumer electronics show in vegas with a look at self-driving cars, i need one of those to high-powered phones. first we want to get to john berman for a look at other stories making news. good morning. >> he's already on california's death row but convicted serial killer rodney al calla got

another life sentences after admitting to killing two others in new york. the 69-year-old was dubbed the dating game killer because he was once a contesting on "the dating game" in the 1970s. questions in paul's valley, oklahoma, where a pregnant woman who went to the hospital with severe stomach pain ended up dying in jail. hospital staff say when 33-year-old jamie lynn russell was in too much pain to lie down they asked a police officer to help but when police found two prescription pills that didn't belong to russell they hauled her off to jail with the permission of the hospital staff. less than two hours later she was dead. the state medical examiner said she died from ruptured ectopic pregnancy where an embryo implants inside the uterus. the search for two teenaged boys who fell into a lake in new jersey say recovery operation. the boys reportedly 14 went about 200 yards out onto the ice and fell through last night. another ice event in green bay, wisconsin, ten fishermen stranded in ice had to be

stranded yesterday when the ice shelf they walked out onto broke free. a school superintendent in washington state is coming under fire for her proposal to disarm the district's guards and police officers. there are 20 armed officers in the highline school district protecting more than 180,000 kids, but new superintendent sue enfield wants every school under her watch to be a gun-free zone including security officers. the school board is expected to take up enfield's idea tomorrow night. so today marks david bowie's 65th birthday, 65, and bowie is giving his fans a present, his first new music in a decade. ♪ had to get the train from potsdam ♪ >> that sounds like david bowie. the new single. the new album called "the next day" will be released in march.

>> great news. the whole thing, track and field coach, beverly kearney has been coaching for 21 years at the university of texas, she has six national championships under her belt. she has a storied career, back in 2002 you might remember she was injured in a terrible car crash, she was told she would never walk again, two people were killed in that car accident. she survived it and then she was able to walk, she ignored what the doctors were telling her, she walked again. now she has resigned after she admitted to what she calls a consensual intimate relationship with a student athlete who was on her team. she says the university basically said to her she had to resign or they were going to fire her and she's saying now the punishment does not fit the crime. the added wrinkle in one of this she was negotiating a new contract and a big raise when this relationship that happened ten years ago surfaced. beverly kearney joins us now in austin, texas. i have to add, welcome, miss

kearney we appreciate your time this morning. we asked a rep. from the university of texas to join us on the program, that invitation was declined so we'll start with you. walk me back to 2002, which is when this relationship with a student athlete who was a track athlete 2002, take me back to that time. how long did that relationship last for? did you know that it was completely wrong to be dating a student on your track team? >> well, you know, if you're asking me from a legal perspective, it was something that i never really thought about from a legal perspective. did i know as i engaged in it, you know you get caught up in the emotional and the physical components of a relationship, and the last thing you're doing is thinking rationally, but as the accident occurred, you know, there was a transformation that went on within me that really

changed my perspective on life. >> that was the accident -- >> and life within itself. >> the accident in 2002. >> in 2002. >> so your relationship lasted i believe a few months, five months, correct? at that point did the relationship end? >> prior to -- no, i can't say that it truly ended then, from a connective point but i think that was the beginning of the end for the relationship, because i was pretty much paralyzed from the waist down, and as i said, my life totally changed after that accident. i think it probably took to really sever the relationship i can't tell you how many months after that, but it was within the next year going into the next season that it was pretty much over. >> i ask about -- >> you know -- >> forgive for me interrupting. i ask about the time line because it's relevant in all of this. that was 2002, fast forward 2012. >> yes. >> you're negotiating a contract with a hefty raise, and this is brought up. is that correct? why do you think that is?

>> you know, that is true. why it was brought up, i had to finally come to embrace not knowing why, and i had to embrace it because the more you try to figure out why, the harder it is to forgive, and the one thing that i needed to do was to be able to move through the process in a loving manner without intent to do harm, and the only way to do that is through forgiveness and until i could forgive the people that came, because i don't believe that this was a situation where one person initiated all of this, but in order to forgive myself, i had to forgive everybody else around me, and that was the most important thing for me is that i've always tried to live my life in a manner that i did not want to do harm, and it's always been easier for me to forgive others, but this was a challenge for me to forgive myself for making a poor decision. >> it sounds like you think ten

years later there were people around you and maybe even your lover herself, the student, who ratted you out, is that fair to say? >> oh, yes, that's fair. >> the employee handbook for your school, university of texas s fairly straightforward, says this, "employees in positions of authority who enter into or persist in consensual romantic or sexual relationships without reporting them or who fail to cooperate in efforts to eliminate the conflict of interest or appearance of impropriety they present will be subject to disciplinary action, up to and including termination." you never reported the relationship at the time. did those rules seem clear to you, that this is a fireable offense? >> you know, i didn't know that there was even a rule on the book, and i think the rule had come into play maybe a year prior to the relationship, and i don't ever even remember reading such a rule, but you know, it talked about disclosure, and you

know, i was never -- throughout the whole process, the disclosure part was never brought to me as to why i was being terminated. i was being terminated as a result of the relationship, and at that point, i said then, has everyone else been terminated as a point of reference of having had a relationship, and the answer was, is that we don't view those the same as yours. >> because you're a head coach and those other relationships were not head coach? >> professors, are professors or administrators or anyone, and to me, i don't see how you distinguish between the value of one student over another because of what they do, whether it's a musician, a musical student, a business student or an athlete, i think the one thing that i hired an attorney for is not to deny, because the moment it was brought to my attention, i openly admitted to its existence, and so it was never to deny, it was just to

guarantee i was given equal treatment because i had grown to not trust the university that i served in terms of equal treatment. >> your attorney has said that there are male counterparts who have engaged in similar conduct which i think in a nutshell means sleeping with a student who is hierarchally lower than them on the kind of scale there, and have not been given a similar punishment. he has not though named who he's talking about. why not? to me that seems it would be very straightforward to say listen here are the three head coaches or coaches or professors who have done similar things and look, they still have their jobs. >> well, you know, i think that they're in the process of the open records act, you know, but for me, the most important thing was the application, you know, i never denied that what i did was wrong, absolutely, and i don't know how many people would come

forth and say wow, i just made this huge mistake, whether it was a year later, two years later, ten years later, and say i knead huge mistake. the only thing i think we can ask of each other is to continue to self-evaluate and self-correct, but i think the institutions have to begin to do that. they have to do self-evaluations and self-corrections and not protection. it has circled the wagons on me and i feel like i've been a casualty within this whole process, not because i was innocent but all i've asked for was fair due process and equal treatment as opposed to how everyone else that had been under similar circumstances have had. >> sounds to me you're saying listen if there's a professor, who had a relationship with his student and he was not fired or if there was a coach who had a relationship with a student and that person was not fired, then i'm being treated unfairly. what -- why would you be treated

unfairly? is it a race thing, is it a gender thing? is it the fact it's a female student? what do you think is at the core of it? >> you know, i have been under extreme stress and turned in for internally for years at ut and always come out of it never having made any mistakes, because of my record, it's pristine there. at a certain point you have to stop asking why. i stopped wondering is it because i have a disability, is it because i'm black, is it because i'm female, is it because i'm successful, is it now because of my sexual preference? i don't know. and to me, at a certain point when it's happening to you, continuously, you begin to only want it to stop and that's why my concern has been i really wanted to have peace of mind and

that's what i've gone to the university before, even before all of this came to light is to stop the harassment. i don't know why it's been happening. >> what do you want? do you want your job back? do you want them to fire the professors -- i know your attorney has said that there are, he's going to i guess come forth with some names and specifics down the road, you want those people to lose their jobs? what would you like out of it all? >> no, i don't want anybody to lose their job. i don't want to create harm to anyone but i do want to bring to light that you don't get to arbitrarily administer your rules and decide who is punished at what levels because of something that you don't like, because you never know if it's because of that particular situation or is it because of the fact that you may be harboring some type of ill will towards that individual. i think that everyone should deserve an opportunity to have

fair treatment based upon your policies, whether something is morally acceptable to an individual or not, our law says it's about the application of the law, and then at some point, there ought to be some form of consideration for that person's past history, they didn't find a prior relationship or a subsequent relationship. >> and 21 years. 21 years at the university of texas, six national championships. >> it goes all the way back to my entire career from, i started coaching when i was 21 years old, and i've never had any violations, i've never stepped outside the lines, and every time, and even in this situation i self-corrected the situation myself, i admitted to it when brought to me and even after i admitted it, they sent me through an eight-week investigation for something, for other things and ended up firing

me for something that i admitted to from the beginning. why does someone have to suffer through all of that and they even called me in on december 26th, the tenth anniversary of the accident, to fire me. >> we're obviously going to watch this case closely because i would like to see how this is being applied across the board to everybody at the university of texas, and what the legal arguments will be in the case. beverly kearney thank you for talking with us this morning. we appreciate your time. >> i definitely appreciate you and i just wanted to also say that i wanted to apologize to anyone that my behavior has oftened or disappointed, and i take full responsibility for what i've done, but i also want the university to take full responsibility and ownership for what it's done as well. >> we will see what they have to say about that. nice to talk to you, coach. thanks for being with us. we appreciate it. >> okay, god bless, thank you. >> thank you, likewise. still ahead on "starting

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welcome back to "starting point" everyone. some stories we're watching this morning, beta blockers may reduce the risk of dementia, a class of drugs to treat high blood pressure, glaucoma and migraines. hundreds of men who died found they had fewer alzheimer's brain lesions and less brain atrophy than other participants. astronomers report one in six stars has an earth sized plan net close orbit. it spotted more than 2,700 possible planets including more than 460 earth-sized planets in the so-called habitable zone where liquid water could exist and based on the numbers, scientists say there could be a total of 17 billion earth-sized planets in our very own milky way galaxy. >> i can't get over that. >> beyond imagination. so is this. check this out. >> what is that? >> it's a kangaroo. police chasing a kangaroo inside

a parking garage in melbourne, airport, for two hours it was in the airport running wild. the wildlifes requill officer had to be called to tranquilize it. he's being treated for damage to his feet and when that's all done he'll be released back into the wild so good news from australia on this kangaroo this morning. >> they're so cute but they're supposed to be kind of mean little animals. >> personality not quite as cute. >> like koalas look very cuddly, very tough. >> what's going on in australia? let's talk a little bit about a cancer diagnosis which obviously could be devastating and life-changing. there's a man whose name is don wright and he used his diagnosis as a challenge. what he decided to do was that he would continue to run marathons in spite of his diagnosis and then decided he would run a marathon in each and every state. dr. sanjay gupta has his story, it's this week's "human factor."

>> reporter: don wright's career spanned engineering, being a company vice president and the law. at age 62 he discovered a new passion, marathons. nine years ago just days after running his first 26-mile race, he got some devastating news. >> i had gone to the doctor a couple of times for pain in my back. it was multiple myeloma. >> reporter: this say conditioner is of the blood where the white blood cells invade the bone marrow causing pain, usually in the back or the ribs, and patients are rarely cured. >> i've got this devastating diagnosis. my family and i, we just kept on going. there wasn't any reason to stop and be sorry. >> reporter: on december 9th under a hot hawaiian sun, wright now 71 reached his seemingly impossible goal, running a marathon in all 50 states. >> it feels wonderful, i'll tell you, a philosophy of life that i have is live one day at a time

and make it a masterpiece, and that was a masterpiece. >> reporter: wright wasn't sure he could fulfill his dream because the median survival for his cancer is just five years. he's had a number of treatments that have failed but for the last four and a half years, wright's taken an experimental drug, just one pill at night, that's worked. kept the cancer at bay. >> i can still run, and i can still enjoy life and i'm riding that for all it's worth. >> reporter: his advice to others facing what seem like insurmountable odds, take charge of your own destiny and never give up hope. dr. sanjay gupta, cnn, reporting. >> i love that story so much. >> have you run a marathon? >> no, but i've cheered people on. >> john, you look like you've run a marathon. >> richard? >> me neither. >> let's start with one. >> in every state. >> start with one. how about a half marathon? >> ahead this morning on "starting point," self-driving cars, really, really, really

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can. welcome back. that time of the year where the tech companies show off their slickest edgeiest most innovative gadgets, the consumer electronics show taking place in las vegas kicks off today. dan simon has an early look for us. >> reporter: it's a january tradition here in las vegas as crews work furiously to get the booths and exhibits ready for the start of the consumer electronics show. more than 150,000 people are expected to roam these vast halls over the next couple of days to get a glimpse of the technologies that might hit the store shelves in the coming year. tvs are always the biggest crowd draw at ces. last year they pushed 3-d tvs. they're hoping ultrahd will win over consumers, screens with four times the resolution as a

typical hd tv but they're expensive, some sets cost as much as a car, and speaking of cars, they're becoming a bigger deal every year at ces. this year you'll hear the term connected car lot, that means using your smartphone for a lot of different things including using the phone to start the car on those especially cold winter days. another big theme, home automation, run your home from wherever you are, this category used to be for people who were really wealthy, now these products are a lot more affordable and it's about being able to control your lights, your thermostat, your appliances, while on the go. of course look for the latest innovations in pcs, tablets and cameras, more than 3,000 companies are on display here, all of them really vying for one thing, attention. dan simon, cnn, las vegas. >> i don't know about the self-driving cars though. i don't see those really, would you buy a self-driving car? >> no, i like to drive. it takes the fun out of driving. >> all the fun out of driving, that's the whole point.

>> it can parallel park and also the whole idea -- >> maribella mac has a car that automatically parks. >> and automobiles are good for things that are routine like farm trucks and stuff like that. you must have been watching the show. >> obviously you were. >> i wonder if will cain was watching the show. >> i was betting against that, five years. i've been wrong before. "end point" is up next. be back in a moment. , i figurede would decrease my sex drive... but when i started losing energy and became moody... that's when i had an honest conversation with my doctor. we discussed all the symptoms... then he gave me some blood tests. showed it was low t. that's it. it was a number -- not just me. [ male announcer ] today, men with low t have androgel 1.62% (testosterone gel). the #1 prescribed topical testosterone replacement therapy, increases testosterone when used daily. women and children should avoid contact with application sites.

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our "end point" begins with richard sacorides. interesting article you wrote in newworker.com. >> i think this hormel nomination is going to be -- >> hagel. >> the jim hormel in 't98 was a big fight but obama's effort to get chuck hagel confirmed is going to be a big fight. on the issue of gay rights hagel has a lot to prove, but i think he can do it. i think everybody, in order for this movement for greater equality to be successful, it has been dependent upon people changing their minds and i think if hagel has really changed his mind, he can show it but he's got to show leadership on it. >> we've had the conversation and danced around it. it's interesting that president obama so willingly went into something he knew would be a big fight as you suggested. what does that say about